Dead or Alive
by ProbationLady
Summary: Former high school English teacher Katie Griffin and her surprising family join the Atlanta survivors in their attempts to survive this new post apocalyptic world where the walking dead rule. Tensions and emotions are as high as the level of danger around them. Can they find safety and maybe something more? After all, love can be found in the most unlikely of places.
1. Meet and Greet

Chapter 1: Meet and Greet

Her breath tore from her throat in gasps as she fled down the abandoned street. She stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk. After regaining her footing she glanced over her shoulder. She was still being hunted; only now, instead of five followers, there were around fifteen. And they were gaining on her. She was slowing – her legs were tiring.

It had started off as a normal supply run for her family that was sheltering about twenty minutes outside of the city. Atlanta, a once bustling and noisy metropolis, had become a barren wasteland, silent, but for the groans and shuffles of the city's remaining inhabitants. The reawakened dead ruled.

She continued to run, her backpack bumping against her back. The groans of the walking dead behind her intensified as if they could sense she was weakening. She knew if she could not find somewhere safe soon, she would join the herds preying on the living.

Up ahead she glimpsed an alley off to her right. She decided to take a chance and darted into the shadowed passage. Luck was with her for the moment as the way ahead was clear of any walkers. She saw a fire escape, and leapt for the ladder. Scrambling up the rusted rungs, she barely avoided the grasping fingers of the dead as they finally caught up to her. Trying to catch her breath, she leant against the brick wall of what must have once been an apartment building. The landing gave a shuddering jerk. She groaned as the bolts that attached the landing to the bricks screeched and started to pull away. Looking down, she saw the cause. Her pursuers were not going to give up their fresh meat that easily. They were pulling on the ladder. While they were unable to climb, their combined weight was enough to compromise the already weakened supports of the fire escape.

"You have got to be kidding me!" She muttered while raising her eyes to the sky.

As she stared upwards, a dark shape leaned over the edge of the building. Her body tensed. A whistle from the mysterious form eased her nerves slightly. It was not a walker. It was another living, breathing person. She turned to run up the stairs when the landing gave another jerk. She stumbled into the railing and stared down into the horde below her. It was not that hard since the platform was now leaning at a severe angle. Another whistle from above caused her to glance back. A grimace crossed her face when she saw the rope dangling within reach. A few weeks ago, the rope would have been of no use to her, but now, in a post apocalyptic world, it was her salvation. Running for a living and learning to protect herself and those around her had transformed her body from slightly out of shape to toned and much more physically capable.

She wrapped her hands around the rope just as the fire escape peeled fully away from the wall. Her left shoulder slammed into the wall and screamed out in protest. She hung for a moment while she gathered her strength, then she started to climb. As she ascended, the mystery person doubled her progress by pulling the rope upwards. Her fingers were cramping by the time she came to the lip of the roof. She scrambled over the edge and lay on her side for a moment catching her breath yet again.

The sun shining on the back of her eyelids was blocked by a shadow caused by someone standing over her. Her eyes snapped open and she jerked her body into a sitting position. Further progress into a standing position was halted by the sound of a gun being cocked. She froze and looked in the direction the sound had come from. Staring down the barrel of the gun, her gaze followed the length of the arm to the face of the holder.

She met the steely gaze of the blue-eyed man in front of her. He was wearing a plaid button-up shirt with the sleeves ripped off and a crossbow across his back. She shifted her gaze to the two people behind him. An Asian man was looking incredulously at the man holding her at gun point, while his companion, a black female, was shaking her head with her hands on her hips.

"Really Daryl? We just put all of that work into saving her and you want to point your gun at her?" The Asian man was practically growling.

She shifted her gaze back to blue-eyes, or rather Daryl. He grunted and lowered the weapon. "Ya stay right there. Don't cha move a muscle. Ya hear me? Ya move and I shoot ya, understand?" He threatened her.

She nodded slowly, her gaze flickering back and forth between everyone. She did not blame him for being mistrustful. In this new world, it was how one stayed alive.

"Honestly Daryl. Let the poor girl alone. I'm Jacqui, honey," the black woman stepped around Daryl and helped her to her feet. "That's Glenn over there. He's the one who saw you runnin' from the walkers."

She glanced at Glenn then looked back at Jacqui. "Thank you all for helping me. I'm Katie."

Daryl grunted and stalked over to the edge where she had climbed up from the alleyway. He spat over the side and looked back at everyone.

"We're gonna have to find 'nother way to get down. There's too many of them fuckers over here," he grumbled.

"There's another fire escape over here," called Glenn from the other side of the roof. He waved them all over.

Katie set her backpack down and pulled out her bow and arrows. She strapped vambraces onto her wrists to protect them from the snapback of the string caused from releasing an arrow. Then, she stuffed a handgun into the back of her pants as a last resort. Glancing up, she saw everyone staring at her.

"What?" She asked defensively.

"Why didn't you use those earlier when you were being chased?" Questioned Glenn.

Katie rolled her shoulders uncomfortably. "There wasn't really time," she stated. "I didn't want to use the arrows because I wasn't sure if I would have enough time to collect them. And I wasn't about to use the gun. That would have been more of a death wish than running. By running away, I only had to worry about a few. If I had used the gun, I would have had the whole freaking city of walkers chasing my sorry ass."

"'Nough chatter. Time ta go 'fore any walkers come down this way," Daryl snarled and clambered over the edge onto the remaining fire escape.

Glenn went next, then Jacqui with Katie bringing up the rear. Katie released a sigh after her feet hit solid ground. Glenn grinned at her correctly guessing she had been worried about the same mishap with the other fire escape occurring again. They lined up against the wall at the mouth of the alley in the same order in which they had descended from the roof. Daryl peered around the corner. He held up three fingers. He pointed two to the left and one to the right.

Katie nodded. Daryl signaled he would take the two walkers to the left. Katie volunteered to take the one to the right. He paused and glanced at the bow in her hands. Then he looked at Glenn and Jacqui who only held a baseball bat and crowbar respectively. Begrudgingly he nodded he head at Katie. She moved up to the right corner of the alley and knocked an arrow. Daryl counted down from three with his left hand. They moved simultaneously taking out their designated walkers with practiced ease.

Both moved to collect their projectiles. The arrow made a squelching noise as Katie pulled it out of the walker's eye. She turned to look at the group. They moved towards her in a crouch, ducking behind cars in order to avoid being seen. The four slowly made their way to the outskirts of the city. Daryl and Katie silently taking out the walkers that crossed their path.

They reached and intersection and Katie made to go straight while the other three moved to the right. They paused and glanced at each other.

"Our car is this way," said Glenn.

Katie nodded. "Mine's this way."

Glenn glanced at the other two, obviously considering something. Jacqui just rolled her eyes while Daryl made an impatient gesture telling Glenn to hurry up.

"You could join our group," Glenn paused. "Safety in numbers right?"

Katie mulled it over. She and her family had tried to join a group before. That had not been a good experience for anyone involved. She bit her lip. These people had helped her when she had been corned. But would their good will hold when they saw what asking her to join them would bring? Finally she nodded her head, willing to take the risk.

"We're holed up at the quarry about twenty minutes that way," he smiled pointing to the east.

Katie nodded. "I know where that is. I'll meet you there before dark."

"Now we got that figured, it's time ta move it fore we start 'tracting any u'wanted attention," Daryl snarled.

They parted ways. Katie heading towards her family and the others towards the quarry to let the rest of their group know about the additions that would soon join them.


	2. Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Chapter 2: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Katie climbed into her Prius and locked the door behind her. She sat there for a moment staring at her hands on the steering wheel. Was she making the right decision joining another group? Could she do that to her makeshift family? They were all she had left any more. But she knew that they would not last much longer by themselves. That thought steeled her reserve. Putting her car into drive, she headed off to her campsite.

After a fifteen-minute drive she saw the gas station her group had holed up in. Her stomach curled itself into knots, as it always did when she returned after a supply run. In this new world she never knew what to expect after hours away from camp. Would she come back to find everyone safe? Or would her worst nightmare finally come true? Her tensed shoulders relaxed when she saw the familiar form of her grandmother waving at her from atop the RV.

As she put her car in park and stepped out, she was ambushed by the two little forms of Carter and Faith, the five-year-old twins she had rescued back when everything started to go to hell. Kneeling down to their level, she wrapped them in her arms. She pulled back after a few minutes and went to check on the rest of her crew. Her grandmother and grandfather were both watching from in front of the RV with relieved looks on their faces. Her grandmother was holding the little bundle of Katie's infant niece Allison. The last member of her party stuck his head of the camper and grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Took ya long enough."

Mock glaring at the fifteen-year-old named Kevin, Katie ruffled his hair as she ushered everyone into their "home". She put away the meager supplies she had been able to gather before she had had to flee for her life. She indicated that everyone should have a seat around the table. Katie leant against the edge of the counter behind her surveying everyone's faces. Taking a deep, she considered how to broach the subject of joining another group.

Taking the plunge, she started. "I met some people while I was in the city today." She paused to gauge their reactions. They ranged from the concerned look of her grandmother to the accusatory glance of Kevin. She sighed knowing it was not going to be easy to convince them. "They saved my life. I'm not saying that I trust them, but they didn't ask for anything in return."

"Katie, you should remember better than all of us what happened the last time we met some other survivors," cautioned her grandfather.

Katie rubbed her wrists as if remembering some phantom pain. "Trust me Papa, I do. I really do. But you and I both know it is only a matter of time before something happens that I can't protect you all from." She raised her hands forestalling the objections she could see forming. "I don't just mean protecting ya'll from walkers. I know you are capable of that if push comes to shove, which unfortunately it does more often than not. But think of how much easier it would be if we had more people who could take watch and help gather food and hunt. Imagine what it would be like to get a full nights sleep again."

Begrudgingly, all but one of her little family started nodding. "But we don't know anything about these people! They could want to kill us all and take what supplies we have for themselves!" Shouted Kevin.

Nodding, Katie said, "I know Kev, but we've got to take the risk. We're all too tired to continue to do this on our own. Would it help if we considered this a trial run? Instead of intending to stay there permanently, we give it one night and see how it turns out? We don't even have to unpack. We'll be ready to go at a moments notice."

She knew she had finally convinced them to give it a try. She smiled. Gently taking her niece into her arms, Katie told them to go gather their supplies. She rocked the baby back and forth as she watched everyone scramble to put everything up. She had her misgivings as well, but knew that they had to at least try. She settled the baby down into her carrier and went to help the twins pick up their toys. It never failed, those two always managed to lose things in the strangest of places. Chuckling to herself, she untangled Faith's doll from the gas pump.

Finally, everyone was packed up and settled. Her grandfather and Kevin were in the Prius, and everyone else was in the RV. They drove off in the direction of the quarry and whatever fate awaited them there.

The sun was casting long shadows as it settled on the lip of the horizon when they finally pulled onto the dirt road leading up to their destination. Katie saw the sentry on top of an older RV point the newcomers out to someone on the ground. People that had once been moving purposely around the camp had come to a standstill. Katie put the camper in park and wiped her sweaty palms on her legs of her pants. She caught her grandmother's gaze and nodded her head. As agreed, Katie was the only one to exit the vehicles. Glancing behind her she saw her grandmother take the driver's seat of the RV in the event they needed to leave quickly. Looking at her grandfather, she saw he was also ready for a fast escape.

Taking another deep breath, Katie turned to look at the group of people in front over her. Her eyes picked out Daryl, Jacqui, and Glenn. Only the last two acknowledged her. Finally she met the gaze of the man who was obviously the leader of this group. He was taller than her and very muscular with dark brown hair and dark assessing eyes. She idly wondered if he liked to wear his shirts that tight or if it was all he had. She waited for him to say something. Finally Glenn stepped forward and introduced the man as Shane.

"Glenn told me we should be expecting you," Shane stated eyeing her warily. "Just how many people do you have hiding in that camper there?"

"Four," Katie answered shortly. She was getting a weird vibe from the man in front of her.

Suddenly the door to the camper behind her flew open and Faith ran out crying with Carter trailing behind her yelling that he hadn't done anything. Faith wrapped her little arms around Katie's legs, wetting her thigh with tears. Katie laid a hand on Faith's head and quickly pulled Carter behind her, shielding them with her body. Looking at the other group, she saw wide eyes and hands on guns. Casting a sharp gaze at her grandmother, she saw her expression of surprise. Katie's shoulders slumped and she motioned for everyone to come and join her.

"This is Faith and Carter. That's my grandmother Debby and grandfather Robert. This little one is Allison and that one's Kevin," Katie introduced to the group.

She glimpsed four other children peeking around the legs of the adults gathered in front of them. A woman with long dark hair stepped forward seemingly looking to Shane for permission. He gave a small jerk of his head, and she raised her hand to shake Katie's. She introduced herself as Lori and started naming the people behind her. There were too many for Katie to remember immediately. But she nodded trying to look friendly. Another woman with short gray hair stepped forward and offered to show them around the camp. Katie motioned for her family to go in front of her. She could sense that Shane was not through speaking with her.

Shane rounded on her. "You need to listen carefully. There is a certain way we do things around here. We all pull our own weight. It looks to me like you've got quite a few people there who aren't going to be able to contribute to the group at large and…"

She cut him off, "Let's get one thing straight here Shane, my family is a lot more valuable than you seem to realize. Sure my grandparents are older and the kids are young. But my grandmother was a nurse, a valuable asset to any group. My grandfather was a Marine and knows how to handle a weapon and is great with strategy. Kevin has some of the best eyesight I've ever known someone to have. And I can hunt. I think that outweighs the so-called burdens you think we'd be adding to the group."

He opened his mouth to respond but quickly snapped it shut when he saw an older man approaching. If she remembered correctly, his name was Dale. Dale took his bucket hat off and used it to fan his face. He plopped it back on his head and smiled.

"It'll be nice to have some more kids running around here. And I think Robert and I are going to get along well," he winked at her as Shane stalked off. "Come and have a seat by the fire. I'm sure everyone is extremely curious about you and your family."

She followed him, instinctively keeping a hand close to the handle of the knife strapped to her thigh. Her eyes surveyed the campsite, taking in the numerous tents and workstations, before settling on the tree line. She nodded approvingly when she spotted the aluminum cans strung together as a warning system for anything trying to approach. This group had obviously been here for a while. She settled herself on a log before the fire and took Allison from the arms of her grandmother. The baby cooed up at her and gripped her index finger.

"That has got to be one of the cutest babies I have ever seen," squealed the young blonde girl sitting on the other side of the fire.

Katie smiled down at the bundle in her arms. "That she is. Would you like to hold her? I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name already."

"Oh yes please! I'm Amy. That's my sister Andrea over there," she pointed to a blonde woman sitting with Lori and Carol preparing dinner.

Katie delicately handed Allison over to the younger girl. She watched them for a few minutes before deciding that the baby was in good hands. She stood up and made her way over to the twins who were sitting with a little boy who looked a lot like Lori. From the way the woman kept looking at him, she deduced it was her son.

Crouching down beside the kids, she saw they were playing with some of Carter's toy cars. "You two stay where I can see you at all times, do you understand?" Katie asked.

They both nodded their heads, swearing that they would. She did not think that the promise would last long, those two were infamous for getting into trouble. Deciding that she would not be garnering any goodwill from standing around watching, she joined the women preparing dinner. She noticed there was not much more than a few pieces of meat for each person, especially with her new group. She waved Kevin over and whispered in his ear. He took off in the direction of the RV.

Lori eyed her suspiciously. Katie shrugged off the woman's stare and began to join in on the small talk. A few moments later, Kevin reappeared at her shoulder holding several cans of green beans. Grins broke out on the faces of the women around her.

"Oh, we haven't had green beans in a while! This is going to be a regular feast!" Exclaimed Carol.

"We have plenty of canned goods in the RV. There should be enough for everyone to eat for a few days at least," Katie shared.

After the food had been cooked and dished out, almost everyone in the group gathered around the large fire pit to eat. Katie had her hands full trying to make sure that most of the food ended up in the twins' mouths and not on their clothes. She had already fed Allison and put her to bed in the camper. A baby monitor was at her side. As the group ate, Katie noticed that one of their companions was sitting by themselves cleaning his weapons. Daryl, it seemed, had better things to do. But, she surmised, from the way he had treated her earlier that day, he was not the friendliest of people.

"So Katie," Andrea started, causing Katie to quickly tear her eyes away from her observations of the resident redneck, "how did you all come to be here?"

Katie knew that it was inevitable that this question would be asked. She knew they were curious about her and her family. So she told them about how Kevin had been a student in her tenth grade English class. They had been in the middle of 3rd period when an announcement had come over the speakers. School had been cancelled and students were to meet their parents at the front of the building. Katie had followed her class through the hallways. When they reached the front of the school, she saw something that made her pause. She reached forward and grabbed the arm of the student in front of her and dragged them back around the corner. Glancing down, she saw it was Kevin. He was looking at her with wide eyes and an open mouth. She knew she must look similar. The military was lining up children and their families.

They both peeked back around the corner. What they saw next made Kevin empty his stomach and Katie to cry. The military was executing them with a bullet between the eyes. Children, no older than five, were being shot next to men and women in their seventies. Kevin attempted to run to where his parents and little brother were next in line to be slaughtered, but Katie grabbed him and forced him to run in the opposite direction. She had only been able to save him from the school. They quickly made their way to Katie's Prius and fled from the parking lot.

The immediately went to Katie's grandparents' house and collected them. They had been baby-sitting Allison that day. The group had fled the city after packing as many supplies as they could into their RV. After about a week, they had discovered Faith and Carter trapped in an SUV. Apparently, their parents had gotten out and tried to siphon gas from the abandoned cars around them. They had been attacked by a couple of walkers and eaten alive. The walkers were still surrounding the SUV trying to get to the fresh meat of the children inside the car. After taking out the walkers, Katie had brought the twins into the RV and they had set off.

They had at one point joined with another group, but quickly split with them and went their own way. She glossed over the finer details of that experience. They had fended for themselves for about two weeks before Katie had gone into the city for that fateful supply run.

"So now you know our story, or at least the most important parts of it," she smiled. "And I think it is definitely time for bed." She had noticed the twins nodding off on each other's shoulders.

After tucking the kids into bed and making sure that the rest of her family was safe and sound in the RV, Katie crawled onto her makeshift bed on the floor next to the RV's door. Lying on her bed she thought that maybe, just maybe, they had found a safe place to stay. She rolled over, and grasped the hilt of the knife hidden under her pillow. Only time would tell.


	3. Of Laundry and Squirrels

Chapter 3: Of Laundry and Squirrels

"The fuck is this?"

Katie's eyes snapped open and she shot to her feet. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, but it provided enough light for her to make out the scene through window of the RV. A middle-aged man was staring at her camper. He was wearing a black vest and had a rifle slung across his shoulders. His hands and arms were covered in something that looked suspiciously like blood. Katie flexed her hand around the handle of her knife. The man in front of her looked vaguely familiar.

Daryl appeared and slapped the man on the back in a familiar gesture. With the man distracted, Katie looked behind him to see the rest of the camp stirring, no doubt woken by the shouting. Since no one looked seriously alarmed, just annoyed, she climbed down from the camper.

"Well fuck me! Officer Griffin! Not even tha rise of tha dead can get me 'way from ya!" Guffawed the man she now recognized.

"I'll be damned. Merle Dixon. I thought I was done with you when the judge sent you to prison for two years," Katie said rolling her eyes.

"What's going on over here? Jesus Merle, did ya have to wake everyone up?" Growled Shane.

"Well 'scuse me Officer Dickhead. I was just sayin' hello to my ole probation officer," Merle drawled before giving his whooping laugh.

Shane looked at Katie, "You were a probation officer?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah, for a few years. I was one before I decided to be a teacher."

"So you're POST certified?"

"Honestly Shane, I don't carry a gun around for decoration. And yes, I am POST certified. Not that that means much now," she stated. "Merle, I'm not a probation officer anymore. I think you can call me Katie."

Merle laughed again. "Whatever you say Officer Katie."

Katie let it go. She knew Merle well enough from when she had had him on probation for the entire three years she had been an officer. She knew that pushing the issue would only encourage him. She turned to the sound of the camper door swinging open. Carter walked down the stairs with his blanket gripped in one hand while the other rubbed at his eyes. Katie picked him up and he laid his head on her shoulder, blinking sleepily up at her. She smiled down at him.

"I'm gonna get him something to eat. Good to see you survived the end of the world Merle. Although, I guess I can't say I'm surprised. You are one tough son of a bitch," Katie grinned.

His whooping laugh sounded behind her as she walked back into the camper. She shook her head as she searched the overhead cupboards for some granola bars. Of all the people from her days as a probation officer, Merle Dixon was the one she had liked the best. He may have been a pain in her ass, but he had made her laugh.

Turning around with the box of granola bars in her hand, Katie saw that Faith had joined her brother at the table. She handed them both a granola bar and grabbed a hairbrush. It was always best to tackle Faith's bed head while she was distracted by eating. After everyone had eaten and changed out of his and her pajamas, they joined the rest of the group outside. Dale was already sitting as lookout on top of his RV under an umbrella with a pair of binoculars and his ever-present bucket hat.

He waved to them and called a good morning. Katie wandered over to Lori. The older woman was sorting through clothes. After a short discussion, Katie learned that it was laundry day. Jumping at the chance for clean clothes, she immediately accepted the invitation to join everyone doing the washing. Glancing at the state of the clothes the twins were wearing, she decided she might just have to take them with her.

Katie herded the kids down the hill towards the shoreline. Faith and Carter were both in their bathing suits and bursting with excitement at the prospect of swimming. Kevin sulkily followed behind them in a t-shirt and shorts. He, along with Katie and her grandmother, was holding a bundle of clothes. With a nod from Katie and a warning to stay where their feet could always touch the bottom, the twins ran into the lake splashing water everywhere. Kevin followed more slowly behind them.

The adults smiled at the sight of something so carefree and a weight was temporarily lifted off of their shoulders. Katie and her grandmother sorted through the clothes in front of them. She picked up a particularly fowl smelling shirt and wrinkled her nose.

"Isn't that one of the Dixon brother's shirts?" Questioned Jacqui.

"It certainly smells like Merle," giggled Andrea.

Katie nodded in agreement. "It is. He saw me gathering our dirty clothes and dropped his and Daryl's at my feet. He said something along the lines of 'you always were good at cleanin' up my messes.'"

"What was it like having Merle on probation?" Asked Lori.

"Why do you think I became a teacher?" Katie asked wryly.

They all laughed uproariously. They continued to joke and laugh as they scrubbed the clothes. Katie had been continuously working on the same shirt for the last ten minutes. It had a particularly stubborn stain on the front.

"Good lord what does that man do that makes such a mess? Even the twins clothes weren't this hard to clean!" Katie exclaimed.

Suddenly the shirt in question was ripped out of her hands. "Don't see anyone complainin' when I get dirty from catchin' everyones' food," Daryl growled. "Don't need anyone cleanin' my clothes anyways."

"Well excuse me. I'm sorry. Next time I'll make sure to leave them in the stinking heap they're already sitting in," Katie snarled.

Daryl grunted and snatched the rest of his clothes, already cleaned, and stomped back up to the camp. Katie huffed and viciously started scrubbing the next article of clothing, muttering under her breath about ungrateful redneck assholes that could do their own fucking washing from now on. Andrea snorted. Katie looked over to see almost everyone's shoulders shaking with silent giggles.

"I think you made a friend honey," said Jacqui. They all dissolved into laughter forgetting their attempts to keep it silent. Eventually Katie cracked a grin and chuckled along with them. They finished up the washing and she turned to the three in the water.

"Alright. Time to get out. I'm sure you're all shriveled up like prunes," she called. A chorus of disappointed groans greeted her. "Come on. Time to dry off and go get lunch."

She wrapped towels around the twins and picked up Allison's carrier. She ushered them back up the hill. Kevin brought up the rear. After a quick change in the RV, Katie started to hang up the laundry to dry. She knew with how hot it was under the Georgia sun that their clothes would be dry in no time. Once she had finished that task she looked around for something else to do. She spotted Merle skinning some squirrels and decided to join him. Merle glanced skeptically at her when she plopped herself beside him on the ground and reached for a squirrel.

"Ya sure ya want to be doin' that? I don' remember Officer Katie bein' much of an outdoorsy type," Merle joked.

Katie gripped her knife and started filleting the animal, obviously surprising the man. "You learn to be outdoorsy when there's no other way to get food," she stated wryly. "I've learned how to do a lot of things recently."

Merle grunted in agreement and quietly resumed preparing the squirrels for dinner. Katie looked around the campsite checking each of her family members. Faith and Carter were playing with Carl; her grandmother was helping to mend some of the ripped clothes; her grandfather was standing watch with Dale; and Kevin was helping a tall, skinny man she remembered was named Jim to string some more aluminum cans onto some rope. Finishing her visual sweep of the camp, Katie made eye contact with the other Dixon brother. He sneered at her and turned away. Katie frowned and went back to preparing the meat.

A shadow fell over her and she glanced up. Daryl was standing over her. Her eyebrows rose when she saw what he had handed her. It was one of Carter's toy trucks that he had broken the day before. Daryl had fixed it. He rubbed the back of his neck and shifted from foot to foot, obviously uncomfortable when she thanked him.

"Stop pussy-footin' around little brother and help us skin these squirrels," Merle quipped at Daryl. "Ya see here Katie, Darylina's more of a girl than ya are. Sittin' round watchin' a woman do the dirty work."

Daryl huffed and sat down with them roughly grabbing a squirrel and viciously cutting into it. Katie grinned to herself. Maybe Daryl Dixon was not as bad as he made himself out to be.

...

So that one had a little more Daryl in it. No worries. He'll be making a lot of appearances in the future. Please review and let me know what you think. All thoughts are welcome.


	4. Busting Chops

Chapter 4: Busting Chops

The days passed in much the same manner as before. Katie and her family soon became incorporated into the group at large. All members found their little niche and proved Shane wrong by making vital contributions. Even the twins made themselves useful by collecting firewood and stacking it by the fire pit. Katie would normally spend the morning helping with the more domestic chores, but spent her afternoons with the Dixon brothers preparing whatever meat they had happened across.

About two weeks after their arrival, a commotion on the other side of the camp drew Katie's attention. Carol's husband, Ed, was shouting and flailing his arms about. Katie had not missed the bruises that marred Carol and her daughter, Sophia. Katie had made countless appeals to Shane to try to get the man to be the leader he was supposed to be and help the two females out. But he always had an excuse as to why everyone should keep his and her noses out. Katie could not let it go as easily as Shane could though. Every new bruise and cut that appeared on Carol and Sophia pushed Katie closer and closer to taking matters into her own hands. She knew one thing for certain; she hated that fat, lazy bastard.

On this particular day, with the Georgia sun beating down on all of their heads, Katie saw something that made her snap. Ed was yelling at Carter. He was bent over at the waist and has his face in the little boy's. Katie immediately stood up and sprinted over. She reached to duo just as Ed smacked Carter, hard, upside the head. He was raising his hand to repeat the gesture when Katie leapt in front of the child. Ed paused, surprised that someone had interrupted his tirade. That moment was all Katie needed to punch the man straight on the nose with all of the strength she possessed. Ed stumbled backwards and tripped over a log landing flat on his back.

Katie turned to assess the damage done to Carter's face, and seeing that he was bruised but nothing was broken, sent him scurrying to her grandfather. A noise behind her alerted her to the fact that Ed had regained his footing. She went to turn around, but was too late. Ed had already entangled his fingers into her hair. He jerked her head backwards and she gave a cry of pain when she felt several strands part from her head. She gathered her wits and swung around socking Ed in the face again. He went down again. Unfortunately he still had a strong grip on her hair and she soon followed him.

They scrambled on the ground for a few seconds, both landing several more blows, before Katie felt herself pulled forcefully up by a pair of arms around her waist. She struggled against whoever was holding her, still trying to get to Ed. Looking up she saw him restrained by an angry Merle. The sight of him contained caused her to slowly relax. As her adrenaline started to wear off, the pain on her scalp hit her full force, as did the sting of a split lip and the throbbing from a kick to her stomach.

The arms around her shoulders relaxed and released her. She turned expecting to see Shane, but was surprised when she saw the other Dixon brother. He gave her a once over, obviously surveying the extent of her injuries. Then he turned his gaze to where his brother still had Ed in a headlock. Daryl clenched his hands into fists so tight that his knuckles cracked. Finally Ed seemed to convince Merle that he was calm enough to be released. As soon as Merle's hold had lifted, Ed lunged for Katie again. She raised her arms in preparation for a blow, but it never came. Daryl had stepped in front of her, and with a well-placed right hook to Ed's jaw, sent him reeling back into Merle's headlock.

"Now listen up jackass," growled Merle into Ed's ear. "Look at Daryl o'er there cleanin' that knife o' his. I know ya've seen how good he is at skinnin' them squirrels. Well Daryl an' I have this runnin' bet ya see. We've been wondrin' just how diff'rent skinnin' a squirrel is to skinnin' a human." He lowered his voice. "If I see you raisin' another hand to anyone else here, includin' yer wife and daughter, or if anyone shows up with an unexplained bruise, then Daryl 'n I are gonna do our little experiment and yer gonna be our test subject. Unerstand?"

Ed visibly gulped but nodded his head. Merle released him and Ed stalked off to his tent to lick his wounds and mend his pride. Merle turned to Katie and saw her working out her jaw from the backhanded slap that had also split her lip.

"Come on Officer Katie. Well get ya cleaned up while yer grandma works on that little one's bruises."

Katie followed after the Dixon brothers, feeling the burning stares of the group's gaze on her back. She ducked down into their tent and let Merle guide her to an overturned milk crate. He motioned for her to sit.

"Never been good at that first aid nonsense. That was always Darylina's area of expertise. He was real good at fixin' me up after I got into a fight, weren't ya baby brother?" Daryl grunted in response. "I'ma go check to make sure Ed's not takin' his frustrations out on that wife o' his. Don' know what she sees in him anyways. I may not be the most amazin' son of a bitch, but even I wouln' hit a woman or a child." Merle's voice faded as he stalked away from the tent.

Daryl kneeled in front of her and set a first aid kit down beside his knees. He pulled out an alcohol pad and started dabbing at her lip. She hissed from the sting, but she was proud of herself for not jerking her head away from the cause of it. She tried to concentrate on something other than the pain while he doctored her face. Her gaze fell to the eyes of the man in front of her. She realized that when he was not glaring or squinting them in annoyance, they were actually quite a captivating blue. Her gaze roamed over the rest of his face, and for the first time since joining the group, she realized that Daryl Dixon was an extremely attractive man. She had just never taken the time to appraise him in that manner. He had always been too standoffish for her to even consider him as anything other than a boorish man with no manners. He raised his eyes to meet hers. She quickly averted her gaze, blushing at having been caught.

He smirked to himself. If only she knew he was doing the same assessment of her. Only he had noticed from the first moment how attractive she was. What with her light brown hair and large blue eyes, Katie was certainly a beautiful woman. And it was obvious that she had never once in her life seen herself that way. If he was honest with himself, the thing that attracted him the most, though, was the way she had handled her bow and knife. He had not seen her shoot a gun yet, but from the way she carried her's, he knew she was just as capable with it as with any of her other weapons.

Daryl finished and started to clean up the first aid kit. Katie mumbled her thanks and quickly exited the tent with one last glance at the man behind her. She immediately went to check on Carter. She found her whole family huddled around the table in their RV. She climbed up the steps and found herself quickly swarmed by all of them. She fended off their questions insisting she was fine. She gave each a hug and a kiss to the cheek. Kevin accepted his with only a small grimace. Smiling, she ushered them all out and encouraged them to continue with whatever activities they had been doing before the interruption. However, before they all ran off, she cautioned them all to steer clear of Ed and his tent.

She took Allison from the arms of her grandmother and went about getting a bottle ready for the baby that was quickly becoming fussy. She fed her and gently rocked her to sleep. Katie laid the baby down in her carrier and picked up the baby monitor. She quietly shut the door to the RV behind her and turned around to come face to face with Shane. Katie was surprised to find him glaring at her.

"Look what you did! I told you to stay out of his business, woman. You just had to go sticking your nose where it didn't belong, didn't you!" Shane ranted in her face.

Katie's back stiffened. "Those children are my business! I will put myself in between them and danger at a moments notice you pompous ass! I would die for them and anyone else here! Don't you dare try to tell me this is my fault. This is all on you and you know it! Jus because your head was too far up your ass to want to take a stand does not make this my fault! I came to you multiple times, begging and pleading for you to do something about the way he treated his family. But no! You were obviously thinking only with your dick because you're more concerned with the wife and child of your dead partner. Who cares that he's only been dead for little over a month? No, you jumped all over that didn't you. You took advantage of that poor woman when she was vulnerable. Just because you're disgusted with yourself does not mean that you can take out those feelings on me! Yeah, I noticed," she confirmed at his shocked expression. "I think everyone else here has too! Ya'll aren't exactly as subtle as you like to think."

Katie roughly brushed past him and stalked over to where Merle and Daryl and resumed skinning their catches.

"Ya know, I remember when you used ta yell at me like tha'. I always hated hearin' it cause I knew it was almost always true. Yer really good at kicking a man in his balls woman," muttered Merle as he shuddered in remembrance.

Katie smiled. "You always did make it easy Merle. Only you were ever dumb enough to start a fight in the middle of the lobby in a probation office. Honestly. If you didn't want to go back to jail, why would you lay a man out in front of your own probation officer?"

Daryl looked at his brother. He opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind. He settled for shaking his head and rolling his eyes. They finished preparing dinner in silence.

"We're gonna need to go huntin' again soon," grumbled Daryl surveying the amount of food they had in front of them. "Gonna need to make a supply run too."

Katie looked at him weighing her options. "Do you think I could join you on a hunt?" She questioned tentatively.

Daryl considered her. He had seen what a good shot she was when they had first met. Begrudgingly he nodded his head. Two sets of eyes were always better than one. He knew Merle would not be able to sit out there long without wanted to get high or drunk, and once that happened, there would be no hope of catching anything worth while. An inebriated Merle was hell to deal with. He was loud, even more obnoxious than normal, and he did stupid, reckless shit that put everyone in danger.

Katie smiled, excited to get out of camp and do something different for a change. She had considered asking Lori and Carol if they wanted her to help teach Carl and Sophia English, but was not sure how the women would take the offer. She did not want to come across as if she thought she was better than anyone. So she bided her time. If they wanted her to teach English, they would eventually ask. But in the meantime, a hunt was just what she needed to get her mind off of things.


	5. Duck, Duck, Goose

Chapter Five: Duck, Duck, Goose

The next day, Katie decided to approach Shane with the ideas of the hunt and supply run. She cautiously approached him, their argument still fresh in her mind. From the way his shoulders tensed when he saw her heading his way, she knew he had not forgotten their fight either. She looked down at her shoes and scuffed her toes in the dirt feeling a prickling of guilt in her stomach. While Shane's initial anger towards her was unjustified, she should not have reacted the way she had with such cutting words. Sure, he could be an ass, but his heart was in the right place. Or so she hoped anyway.

"Daryl wanted to go on another hunt and I was thinking about joining him. And Merle thinks there should be another supply run soon," she muttered, only glancing up once to check his reaction.

"Sounds good to me," Shane drawled.

Katie nodded and turned to leave, but stopped herself and turned back to the former officer. "Shane, I'm sorry for some of the things I said yesterday. I should not have brought up your relationship with Lori and Carl. It's not my business. I have a hard time controlling my mouth when someone pisses me off. And you certainly pissed me off. And don't get me wrong. I don't forgive you for blaming me, because I still firmly believe that I did the right thing. But I could have reacted better."

She watched him for a moment longer before turning to leave again. His hand reached out and caught her arm to stop her.

"I don't blame you for Ed. You were right, I was mad at myself for not acting sooner and I took it out on you. I'm sorry for that. You didn't deserve me attacking you right after."

"Shane," she sighed. "I think your heart is in the right place. But it's hard to know what is right and what is wrong anymore. Our whole world has been flipped upside down. I can see that you're trying. Just don't forget what kind of person you were before shit hit the fan. The only thing that separates us from those things," she made a vague gesture in the direction of the city, "is our humanity. It's the only thing we have that they don't. Don't forget that."

He nodded. "Well, I guess we'd better start planning for a supply run hadn't we?"

She knew she had given him a lot to think about, and that he would need time to digest it all. So she nodded and helped him gather the group to decide who would go into the city and who would stay to guard the camp. After an hour of hashing out the finer details, they had come to a decision.

She and Daryl would be going hunting. Jacqui, Andrea, Glenn, a bigger black man nicknamed T-Dog, and a Hispanic man named Morales would join Merle on the supply run. And Shane and Dale would stay and man the camp. They had all planned to head out at dawn the next day, so Katie decided she would take the rest of that day to spend some much needed bonding time with her family. She collected Faith and Carter and asked them if they wanted to play a game. After a five minute fierce debate between the two, it was decided that they would play a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. She left the twins to gather up some players while she cleared out a large space in the middle of camp.

She made a quick trip into the camper to grab a hair tie. She was pulling her hair up into a bun as she exited the RV. What she saw outside made her pause. The sight in front of her finally registered in her brain, and a large grin spread across her lips. Katie had told the twins to gather everyone; she had meant only the other children. But sitting in a circle, all clearly waiting on her, was the entire camp, all but Dale, who was still acting as lookout. Even the Dixon brothers had joined, though neither looked incredibly thrilled at the prospect.

Katie took her place in the circle and Carl was quickly selected to start the game off. His first "goose" was Morales, who quickly picked his daughter. The game progressed until it was Faith's turn. While everyone else in the circle had avoided picking the Dixon brothers, little Faith bopped Daryl right on the head proclaiming he was the goose. She made it half way around the circle before realizing he was not chasing her.

She pouted her lower lip and gave her puppy dog eyes, "But I picked you as the goose," she said. "You're supposed to chase me."

Daryl huffed a sigh of defeat, unable to remain resolved in the face of her trembling bottom lip, and heaved himself to his feet. She shrieked and took off, making it to her spot just in time. Katie watched the gruff man pick Carter. Smiling softly she watched him run until he slid into the open space beside her. Glancing at him, she saw he was desperately trying to hide his own smile. That had to have been one of the cutest things she had ever seen.

"Not a word," he growled, obviously catching her look.

She smiled and looked away trying to pay attention to the game going on around her and not the man who was sitting beside her. The group wrapped up their game when the Georgia sun started to become too much to bear. They all drifted back to their chores, their spirits much higher than they had been just that morning. Katie made sure everyone in her family drank some water and had cooled off. She was redoing the braid in Faith's hair when the little girl requested that Katie tell a story.

"How about I tell one before bed tonight? Does that sound good?" Encouraged by the smile and nod of the child, Katie continued, "Do you know which one you want me to tell?"

Faith's face scrunched up in deep thought. "Can I think 'bout it and tell you after dinner?"

"Of course sweetie. Now go find Carter and make sure he's not getting into too much trouble for me okay?"

Katie watched Faith take off in search of her brother, before she herself made her way over to where a group had convened near the fire pit. She sat down and reached for a knife and started to chop some of the wild mushrooms they had gathered the day before.

"So," began Andrea, "did anyone else think it was precious watching Daryl and Merle chase children around?"

The women giggled and nodded. "Who thought it was precious watching Katie stare at Daryl?" Giggled Jacqui.

"I was not staring at Daryl!" Exclaimed Katie.

"Girl, please. You were makin' eyes at that man the whole time. Although, I can't say I really blame you. He's fairly attractive once you get passed the whole rude redneck thing he's got goin' on," contributed Andrea.

"Ya'll are ridiculous," Katie rolled her eyes.

"The staring was going both ways from where I was sitting. He was looking right back at cha," Lori intimated, seeing Katie's eyebrows rise into her hairline.

"Lori, I couldn't get a man to look at me when there were six billion living people on this planet, I highly doubt my prospects of attracting a significant other have increased," said Katie.

"Well, I don't know, there are fewer fish in the sea now," supposed Andrea.

"That is true. Although, I can't really picture Daryl as a fish, I'd say he's more of a piranha," Lori deadpanned.

The group dissolved into giggles, which abruptly ceased when the subject of their conversation approached with a few more prepared squirrels. He eyed the women suspiciously before stalking off towards his tent to clean his knives. Lori caught Katie's eye and they both exploded into laughter, triggering the rest of the table to join them.

At dinner, Faith approached Katie with her story request. Katie smiled and nodded when the little girl whispered her selection into her ear. After cleaning up the dishes, Katie settled herself in front of the fire and pulled Faith into her lap. Apparently the news of story time had spread to the rest of the children and Katie found herself surrounded by their expectant gazes. So she began the story of "Beauty and the Beast". It was Faith's favorite. Halfway through the telling, Katie noticed that even the adults were listening in. She smiled and finished the story. With so little to look forward to in this new world, fairy tails and happy endings were even more important to cling to. They needed hope, because without it, there was no point in trying to survive.

After wrapping up the story, Katie took stock of those around her. All but Sophia had fallen asleep, but she looked to be close to joining them. Katie's grandparents and Kevin had already headed into the RV for the night taking Allison with them. She carefully maneuvered herself into a standing position, trying not to wake Faith. She stood for a moment deciding if she should leave Carter while she carried his sister to bed, or if she should try to carry him as well.

The decision was made for her when Daryl appeared at her side and bent down to pick up the boy. Slightly shocked, she watched him for a moment while he trekked to the camper. He glanced over his shoulder, and she shook herself. She needed to get her mind straight. There was no point in being attracted to this man. She had to stay focused on the safety and survival of her family. Feeling resolved she followed him into the camper. That resolve did not last long. It crumpled when she saw how gently Daryl laid Carter onto his bed, brushing the hair out of his innocent sleeping face.

He nodded at Katie and brushed past her on his way out. She watched as he quietly closed the door and walked over to his tent. She only averted her eyes when Faith stirred in her arms. Katie laid her down next to her brother and covered the two with a blanket. She then prepared herself for bed. Lying down in her place in front of the door, Katie's mind drifted back to the youngest Dixon. There was a lot more to that man than met the eye. She would have to keep her distance from him. She groaned quietly when she realized how difficult that would be in the coming days. She was going to be alone with Daryl and there were going to be very few distractions.


	6. Spiders

Chapter 6: Spiders

Katie woke just before dawn. She stretched her arms above her head and felt her back pop. She blinked wearily at the rest of the camper's still sleeping occupants. She quietly rose, dressed, and packed her backpack with enough supplies to last a couple of days. She slipped out of the door, closing it behind her. Glancing around, she saw that all of the members of the supply gathering party were up and preparing. Craning her neck, she saw the Dixons still huddled in front of their tent putting the finishing touches on their packing.

Katie wandered over and squatted next to them. Though neither spoke, they both acknowledged her presence. She watched Merle cleaning his knife for a moment before she spoke.

"Merle, be careful okay? Don't get into too much trouble," she asked.

He laughed and scooped up his pack. "There's no need ta be worrin' about ol' Merle now. I can take care of myself Officer Katie."

She smiled in response before she rose and swung her pack over her shoulder. She asked the other Dixon if he was ready. He nodded and the three of them made their way to where Glenn and T-Dog were discussing the plan for when they made it into town.

"Daryl and I are gonna head out and try to get situated before too many animals start wandering around," Katie informed them.

They all said their good byes and wished each other safe trips. Turning, Katie followed Daryl past the tree line. They trekked for a solid two hours before Daryl indicated they should come to a halt. He knelt down and looked at something on the ground. Peering over his shoulder, Katie saw what looked like a deer print.

He turned to her and said, "Looks pretty fresh. It's not but a day old at most. Wanna track it for a while and see where it goes?"

Katie nodded and quietly followed Daryl as he scouted the deer's trail. They came across several more tracks that morning and by one in the afternoon they had caught several rabbits and a few more squirrels. Deciding to break for lunch, Katie pulled out some granola bars and a water bottle each. She handed Daryl his portion and they both started eating. After a few minutes, Katie decided it was time to break the bubble silence that had ensconced them all morning.

"So, what exactly possessed you and Merle to play Duck, Duck, Goose?" she asked with a large grin stretching across her lips.

Daryl groaned. "Have ya seen those two? They're a force o' nature. Couldn't have said no even if I'd tried. Merle did and Faith gave him tha' look."

"What look?"

"Ya know which one I'm talkin' about. It's the one where her eyes get all big and her bottom lips shakes." He ran a hand down his face before rubbing the back of his neck. "I knew I wouldn't been able to say no if she looked at me like that. For fucks sake she convinced Merle! Even I couldn't do that when we was kids and I'm his little brother!"

Katie giggled at him. "Well it's good to know that you Dixon brothers aren't all grouch and grumble."

He scowled, "Merle is when he's high on somethin'. I think that's why he wanted to go on that supply run."

Katie sighed. "I was thinking the same thing. I hope for everyone else's sake he doesn't find anything. It won't turn out well for anyone involved if he does."

They packed up their trash and continued on their way. Katie brushed yet another branch out of her face grumbling to herself as they entered a clearing. Daryl knelt and examined the ground. He turned and told her that they were getting closer to their prey. Looking at her fully he noticed something on her tank top.

"You've got a spider on your shirt."

Katie shrieked and ripped her top off. "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" She yelled.

Daryl stared at her dumb struck as she stood in nothing but her bra.

"Don't just stand there looking at me like that! Kill it! Kill it!"

Suddenly he clapped a calloused hand over her mouth. He hushed her and started eyeing the trees to their right. Katie gripped his wrist and looked at him with wide eyes. He laid a finger over his lips, his eyes asking her if she would remain silent. She nodded and he slowly lowered his hand from her mouth. He pulled his crossbow over his head and aimed it in the direction he thought he saw something. Katie's hand drifted to the knife at her thigh. She unsheathed it and turned to look in the opposite direction.

Daryl's crossbow twanged as he released an arrow into the head of the walker that was hungrily stumbling towards them. Daryl knocked another arrow and went to check to make sure the undead man was truly dead now. Katie continued to eye the trees. Where there was one walker, there were normally more behind it. Her theory was correct. Four more walkers stumbled out of the trees. They saw their prey and quickened their lurching gaits. Daryl felled two before one was upon him. He kicked it away, but the decaying thing in front of him was quick. Daryl only just had enough time to raise a bolt. The walker lunged straight into it, impaling itself right through the eye.

Daryl turned to look at Katie and felt his stomach drop. She was lying under the body of the second walker. The re-dead woman was missing her left arm up to the elbow. Suddenly her body shifted and Daryl tensed, ready to defend himself.

"This is disgusting! It's all over me. Gross!" Katie sat up after shoving the decaying corpse off of her chest. "Where is my shirt anyway? And this was my good bra! Jesus Christ, I think I'm gonna throw up."

Daryl handed her the top. She took it from him but made no move to put it on. "Aren't you gonna wear it?"

"Covered in blood and guts? There ain't no way in hell!" She told him. "Let's go find a some water to get this gunk off."

She stalked off into the trees. Daryl followed behind her shaking his head. He tried and failed to keep his eyes from her barely clad torso. He gulped as his eyes trailed from her shoulders to where her waist nipped in right above her hips. His eyes trailed back up to the clasp of her bra. He stumbled on a raised tree root. Katie glanced back at him with raised eyebrows. He grunted when she asked if he was all right.

"Okay their caveman. Do you know how to do anything other than grunt?" She joked.

He grunted in response just to annoy her. She threw him an exasperated look and shook her head. They finally came across a small stream. Katie happily filled an empty water bottle and poured it over her chest and stomach washing the filth off of her body. She glanced at Daryl to see he was doing the same thing. Katie's mouth went dry as she watched a rivulet of water run down his chest to the waistband of his jeans. Glancing up, she saw Daryl watching her. She subconsciously licked her lips and saw his eyes darken.

Suddenly, a twig snapped behind them. They both whipped around and readied their weapons. Katie jumped as a rabbit hopped out of the bushes towards them. Daryl let a bolt fly. It flew true and hit the animal right between the eyes. He added his catch to the slowly growing pile. He turned and saw that Katie had already put her shirt back on. He was shocked to find himself disappointed. He clenched his teeth. Now was not the time to find himself attracted to someone. They had a job to do. Brushing off his disappointment and anger at himself, he examined the ground for prints again. He knew with all of the noise they had made earlier, that there was no sense in trying to track the same animal. Seeing another set of deer tracks, he and Katie set off in the hopes of eventually bringing back venison for dinner.

When the sun started to set, the duo started to look for a place to settle down for the night. Finding a suitably sturdy tree, they decided to spend the night in its branches. Their encounter with the walkers from earlier was still fresh in their minds and the added safety of being off the ground was appealing. They sat in a companionable silence for a while before Daryl offered to take first watch. Katie agreed and settled herself as well as she could. She drifted off to sleep much more quickly than she thought she would.

She awoke to a soft nudge on her shoulder. She blinked owlishly at Daryl. He smirked at her expression. He waited a moment before deciding that she was going to stay alert. Finally, he leaned his head back and attempted to relax. Moments later, Katie heard his soft snores permeating the night air. She smiled and watched him for a moment. He looked so innocent in sleep when the worries of the day faded into the wonders of the night.

She woke him when the sun peeked over the horizon. They nibbled on more granola bars before clambering down from the tree. They resumed their search for a deer. The trail was still fresh and according to Daryl, they were quickly gaining on their prey. Suddenly, he lifted a hand, and Katie froze. Leaning slightly to the side, she was able to glimpse a large doe in the clearing in front of him. She lightly touched his arm and indicated the bow in her hands. He eyed her warily before stepping to the side to allow her a clear shot.

She steadied her hands and took a deep, calming breath. She released her arrow and watched and it flew true and hit the animal in the shoulder. A bolt appeared right next to her arrow. She glared at him, annoyed that he had not trusted her enough to bring the doe down by herself. He did not even look at her; instead he headed towards their catch. It was only after he gripped the front legs that he glanced in her direction. She scowled at him and stomped over. She huffed as she grabbed the back legs and helped the man lift the deer. They started off in the direction of the camp with the deer between them. She continued to glare daggers into his back the whole way back, muttering about chauvinistic bastards under her breath.


	7. Left Behind

Chapter 7: Left Behind

Daryl could still feel the heat of Katie's glare when they came into sight of the camp. Fed up, he dropped the deer and whirled to face her. Grabbing her arm, he yanked her behind a large pile of rocks for privacy. He gripped her upper arms and shook her slightly.

"Would you stop glarin' at me woman?" He exclaimed. "It ain't worth it to leave anythin' to chance now. I know yer a good shot. I've seen ya shoot. But there's nothin' wrong with…" he trailed off at the look on her face.

Katie was terrified, though not necessarily at Daryl. The way he had grabbed her had caused a flashback.

"Ya alright?" Daryl softened his tone, confused and concerned.

Katie visibly shuddered. "I'm fine. It was just a memory." He continued to stare at her for a moment until she relented. "This isn't the first group we've joined. Right after we found the twins, we encountered a couple. Pam and Amanda were also headed to the refugee camp, so we decided to stick together for a while. We had no way of knowing the city was overrun at that point. Anyway, we ran across another camp. They were all men, but they seemed nice enough." She snorted in derision. "It was stupid of us to trust them. I should have known better."

"What happened?" Daryl asked tentatively, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.

"That first night they got drunk and apparently decided that in a world where there were so few living, breathing women, that no one had a right to be gay. They raped Pam and Amanda before dangling them by their arms from a tree, using them for target practice. Then, I guess they thought they hadn't had enough, so they turned to me."

Daryl tensed and clenched his hands until knuckles turned white. Katie smiled sadly, touching his shoulder.

"They didn't get the chance to do more than grab my arms. Walkers overran us at that point. I was lucky enough to get everyone into the camper safely. There was nothing I could do for Pam and Amanda. They had been the first to be eaten. We fled, but I went back later to make sure every single one of those bastards was dead. And they were, but I still had the pleasure of putting a bullet into each of their heads," she snarled, tears streaming down her face.

Daryl softly cupped her cheek and used his thumb to brush away a tear. She leaned into his hand, reveling in the comfort he was providing. She smiled tremulously before pulling away and wiping vigorously at her face.

"I'm being ridiculous. It's over now. It shouldn't still bother me. I've seen a lot of bad things lately. There's no reason why that one instance should haunt me so much. We all have nightmares now, don't we? The kids especially. They've all watched their parents die in front of them."

Daryl shook his head. "Those mother fuckers deserved what they got and much more. Bastards. Don't matter what this world is now. No woman deserves that."

She stared at him for a second before flinging her arms around him and kissing his cheek. Realizing what she had just done, she jerked back and crossed her arms in embarrassment. She looked up to apologize but never got the chance. Daryl shoved her against the boulder behind her. Her hands instinctively flew to his chest when he pressed his body into hers. His arms were on either side of her head, effectively trapping her. Her breaths came in gasps. She stared into the blue eyes of the man in front of her. His gaze flickered to her mouth where she was biting her lower lip. Daryl's eyes darkened and hers started to flutter to closed.

His body heat was radiating into her and his breaths were starting to mingle with hers as his head lowered. Just as their lips were about to touch, a scream from the direction of the camp had them jerking apart. The sounds of a commotion caused them to hurry towards where the action was. Daryl rounded the boulder first and paused when he saw several guns raised in his direction. He stalked forward and noticed a huge portion of the deer had been eaten. Lying next to it was a now headless walker, the obvious culprit.

"Son of a bitch! That's my deer. Look at it all gnawed on," he continued to curse the dead walker as he repeatedly kicked it.

Dale attempted to calm him, but it only served to anger Daryl further. He got up in the older man's face and yelled at him, frustrated that no one seemed to understand the trouble he and Katie had gone through to get that deer. And he told the rest of the group how they had tracked it for miles and then dragged it all the way back to camp.

"Think if we cut around this gnawed off part we can still eat it?" He asked.

No one seemed too keen on the idea. Just then the head reanimated and the mouth started to open and close. Daryl shot it through the eye, annoyed that no one remembered to shoot the thing through the brain. He stomped off to find Merle. It was at this point that Katie stepped forward and showed them the squirrels and rabbits they had caught.

"Well, at least we won't go hungry tonight. We've got about a dozen squirrels and two rabbits."

Dale smiled at her distractedly before quickly following after a newcomer and Shane. Perplexed, Katie trailed behind. She heard Daryl up ahead trying to get his brother's attention. Shane called Daryl and started to explain Merle's absence. So the story came out about how Merle had been shooting into a crowd of walkers in front of a department store everyone had been holed up in. The rest of the group had attempted to calm him, but he just continued to escalate. Obviously, Merle had found some more drugs to add to his stash and had not been able to wait until he got back to camp to get high. So the new guy, Rick Grimes, had handcuffed Daryl's brother to a pipe on the roof. They had left him there to die from either walkers or dehydration.

Daryl lashed out at Rick. Rick and Shane wrestled him to the ground and put him in a headlock. After they had calmed him down, Rick told Daryl that he would go back into the city and help rescue Merle. Katie had been standing there watching the scene unfold with her hands over her mouth. At this point Daryl glanced up and met Katie's gaze. She knew in that moment that she would be going with him to Atlanta. It seemed T-Dog would be as well.

T-Dog had had the keys to the handcuffs but had dropped them down a drainpipe in the mayhem. In his haste, he had done the only thing he could have to protect Merle. He had padlocked the door to the roof so that none of the walkers breaking into the department store would be able to reach the other Dixon brother. His guilt was eating at him. Glenn volunteered to go back as well since he knew the roads the best.

Katie left the men to make plans and headed over to where her family was huddled. She knelt down and hugged Faith and Carter, then she kissed Kevin and her grandparents on the cheek. She pulled Allison into her arms and rocked her back and forth. She motioned for everyone to follow her into the camper. She sat down at the table with the twins flanking her. The remaining three sat across from her. She took a moment to observe her family.

Her grandmother was looking happier than she had been. The dark circles under her eyes were slowly fading. Debora watched her granddaughter with identical blue eyes. Katie took in the gray hair that was now falling to her slender shoulders. It would never have been allowed to get that long before. She shifted her gaze to her grandfather. He sat a head taller than the other two beside him. His spine was straight and his shoulders were back, like it was just yesterday he had retired from the military. He had somehow managed to keep his lightening hair in a short crew cut. His brown eyes crinkled as he smiled at her. She smiled back before looking at Kevin. The blonde headed teenager was resting his head in his hands. He glanced up at her, his shaggy hair falling into his light green eyes. They were going to be so mad at her.

She opened her mouth to tell them about her plans to join the rescue team, but Kevin beat her to it. "You're going with them aren't you?" He continued after he saw her nod. "Good. I liked Merle. He was rude and loud, but he still helped out around the camp. And he played with Faith and Carter."

Katie blinked in surprise. She was even more shocked to find that her grandparents were nodding in agreement with him.

"Okay then," she paused. "There's something else we need to discuss. That walker coming so close to camp scares the hell out of me. I think that everyone needs to start going to bed sooner. I want you all to be in the camper as soon as it gets fully dark. We've made it so far! I don't want to loose one of you now because of us getting too comfortable and becoming careless."

Kevin immediately started to protest. "Please," Katie begged him. "Please. For me. At least just while I'm gone. We can talk about curfew when I get back, okay? I don't want to be worrying about you while I'm trying to dodge walkers, okay?"

He reluctantly nodded. They sat there for a few more hours just talking. Katie knew she had not spent nearly enough time with them recently. After a long discussion about rationing their supplies again, Katie decided she needed a bath. She stank! Since she had had no soap in the woods, she had been unable to completely rid herself of the walker's blood and guts. So she grabbed her toiletries and clean clothes and made her way to the lake.

She stripped to her underwear and dove into the water. She paddled around for a few minutes before she grabbed her shampoo and lathered it into her hair. She rinsed and then washed her body. It was a glorious feeling. She was finally clean. She relaxed and just floated on her back staring at the sky. It was getting on into the afternoon and the sun would soon be setting. Beginning to feel like a prune, Katie exited the water and grabbed her towel. She wrapped it around her body and walked to where she had left her clean clothes.

As she was pulling her shirt over her head, a figure walking down the path from the camp caught her attention. It was Daryl. She waited until he was a few feet from her before holding out her soaps.

"Go get cleaned up," she told him. "Want me to bring you some food down here?"

He shook his head. "I'm not hungry."

She hummed, her lips thinning. "If you're sure…well, I guess I'm gonna head back up and get some dinner. Don't stay out too long. You'll need your sleep when we go get Merle tomorrow."

"Yer comin' too?"

She nodded. "Merle may not be the nicest SOB, but no one deserves to die like that. And he makes me laugh."

She turned and headed up the hill. She ate dinner and put the kids to bed. She followed soon afterwards, but was unable to fall asleep herself until she saw Daryl head into his tent. She doubted anyone would be getting a good night's sleep that night. But there was not anything they could do until morning. Anxiously she rolled over and willed herself to sleep. Merle was tough. He would survive until they reached him. That was her last thought before she slipped into unconsciousness.


	8. Separated

Sorry it took so long to post another chapter! Life has been hectic recently. I hope you enjoy this one. :)

Chapter 8: Separated

"She's coming around."

Katie's eyes fluttered open and took in her surroundings. There were four men leaning over her as she lay on the concrete floor of a storage room. She raised her hand to her head and started to sit up.

"You may not want to do that right yet. You took a pretty hard knock to the head," said a tall man with blonde hair. He was dressed in a vest and a button down shirt. She understood him to be the man in charge from the way the other men deferred to him.

"What happened?" She mumbled.

"Well, Gary there, has a bad habit of swinging first and asking questions later. He thought you were a walker." Said the blonde man. He sent a glare towards Gary, a squat man with dark hair.

"Where's the rest of my group? I came here with four other people."

"You were the only one we found. You were running from a big group of walkers. We didn't see anyone else," answered Gary.

Katie nodded, then groaned. She made a mental note to not move her head. She guessed she had a concussion. She glanced back at the man in charge.

"What's your name?"

"I don't ever tell my name," he said.

"We call him the Governor," supplied one of the other men standing around her. He was large and looked like he had been a body builder in another life. "I'm Sam and that's Derick."

Katie glanced over to the man Sam had indicated. He was tall, but slender. He did not have nearly as much bulk to him as Sam or Gary did. She raised her hand in greeting.

"Where are we?" Question Katie.

The Governor answered, "Were in the back room of a furniture store. It's fairly safe in here. Now let's get you some water and some food. You've been out for a while so I'm sure you're hungry."

As if in answer, she felt her stomach grumble. She wondered just how long she had been unconscious. Glancing out of the windows set high into the wall of the room, she realized it had been quite a few hours. The sun looked to already be setting. She took the proffered granola bar and chewed on it. As she ate, she went over the preceding events that had caused her to be in her current predicament. The day had started off perfectly normal, well as normal as a day could be when the world had gone to hell.

_Katie woke to a soft knock on the door. She rose and opened it to see Rick standing in his sheriff's uniform. He let her know that they would be leaving in an hour. Katie nodded and went to get ready for the day. Her family stirred as she kissed them and said her good byes. She reminded them all of their agreement to be inside once it was fully dark. She paused at the door and glanced back. Kevin and the twins had already fallen back to sleep. Her grandparents were watching her. She waved a final time and walked out to where the rescue party was gathering._

_Daryl was pacing back and forth in an agitated state. She knew not to mess with him when he was like that. So, she walked around him and tossed her backpack into the open white box truck that had been commandeered during the last Atlanta trip. She rested her hands on the tailgate and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and thought about her family. She felt guilt and nerves warring around in her stomach. No matter how badly she felt about leaving her grandparents and the kids again, she knew that she could not let Daryl go back to the city alone. Katie knew her own sister had not made it. She had seen her turn and had had to put a bullet through her sister's head. Katie would do all in her power to make sure that fate never fell to anyone else._

_She jumped as Daryl honked the horn and shouted at everyone to hurry up. She hoisted herself into the truck and braced her hip against the side. She watched as Rick took the passenger seat. T-Dog and Glenn clambered into the back with her. Daryl took off as soon as everyone had settled down. Katie watched the scenery pass as they sped towards the city. She ran her hand along the curve of her bow, feeling the smoothness of it. _

_The box truck jerked to a stop as Daryl applied the brakes. The group leapt out and immediately examined their surroundings. Once they saw the way ahead was clear, they started off towards the department store and Merle. They made it to the store with no incidents. They had managed to avoid most of the walkers and Daryl and Katie had silently taken out the ones that spotted their party. They burst onto the rooftop after cutting the chain from the door._

_They all stopped short. The roof was empty. Katie followed as the men made their way towards where Merle had been handcuffed. Her hand flew to her mouth as she took in the sight. Merle himself might not have been there, but his hand was. It looked as though Merle had cut through his own wrist with the blunted saw lying under the dangling handcuffs and next to a pool of blood. She heard Daryl and Rick discussing something, but their voices were too muffled for her to understand what they were saying._

_Things only snapped into focus when Glenn grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him. Daryl had begun to track Merle's path using the droplets of blood on the ground. His trail led them into the opposite side of the building and into an industrial kitchen. Katie finally gagged when the smell of burnt flesh hit her. Merle had cauterized his own wound with an iron. Picking up the trail again, Daryl discovered that his brother had broken through a window and had escaped down the side of the building._

_It was at this point that the group started to argue about their next steps. Everyone except for Daryl wanted to go get the bag of guns that Rick had abandoned. Daryl wanted to continue to search for his brother. Rick, the mediator of the group, compromised by saying they would get the guns first and then try to pick up Merle's trail again once they were properly armed. Daryl grudgingly agreed. _

_Glenn pulled out a map and they debated on what the best course of action would be. The final agreement was that Glenn would be the one to actually retrieve the bag while Daryl and Katie would wait in one alleyway and Rick and T-Dog would wait in another. This way, no matter which way he ran, Glenn would have backup. So with the decision made, they made their way to their positions._

_Katie waited at the corner and watched as Glenn stealthily made his way past the few undead that were wondering the street near him. She was so focused on him that she had not noticed that Daryl had walked further down the alleyway. A commotion drew her attention. A young Hispanic man was yelling in fear as Daryl pointed his crossbow in his face, loudly asking if the kid knew where Merle was. Just as Glenn was rounding the corner, victorious in collecting the gun bag, two more Hispanic men came from the opposite side of the alleyway._

_A scuffle over the bag broke out and one of the thieves was shot in the ass by Daryl's crossbow. The men, deciding that they would be more likely to make it out of the alley safely with human shields, grabbed Glenn and Katie and hauled them towards a car that had pulled up on the street. Katie kicked and screamed. A well-aimed punch caused the man holding her to drop her. She landed hard on her side and watched as the car sped off with Glenn in the backseat. Hearing the moans of the undead almost on top of her, she scrambled to her feet and looked at Daryl. She knew she would never make it back into the alley. _

_"Close the gate!" She screamed at him, before she took off in the opposite direction, trying to put some space in between her and her pursuers. "Why is it that I always end up running from these mother fuckers every time I come into this damn city?" She muttered in between breaths._

_She rounded the corner of a building about five blocks from where she had started running and attempted to skid to a stop. But she was unable to avoid the baseball bat that was swinging towards her head. She felt it connect and felt herself fall to the ground, but then her vision swam and eventually went black._

She rubbed her head again as she reminisced about the cause of her concussion. She felt better after having had some food and water. She was especially grateful for the ibuprofen that had been shoved under her nose shortly after she finished her food. With the painkilling effects of the medicine kicking in, Katie felt well enough to stand. Her movements caught the attention of the Governor who had been standing over a table overflowing with papers. He made his way towards her.

"You mentioned earlier that you had been separated from some other people. What were you all doing here in the city anyway?" He questioned.

So she told him about Merle and the bag of guns. Their conversation grew until she was telling him about the larger group up by the quarry and how she and her family had come to be there. This man was very easy to talk to. He was very charismatic and the men that followed him seemed to trust him.

She felt as though her confiding in him was rewarded when he told her about the little city he had been able to save. The idea that a place was safe enough for her family to live comfortably was almost too perfect. The more he told her about Woodbury, the more Katie was tempted to go there. The town had electricity and barricades. They had weapons and guards. She would finally be able to concentrate on the mental well being of her family, not just the physical. The two talked for hours before Katie yawned.

"You've had a rough day. Why don't you get some sleep? You can start looking for your friends in the morning," soothed the Governor.

Katie nodded and lay down on a pallet. She was asleep almost instantly. The man called the Governor watched her for a moment before he made his way back to the paper-covered table. He motioned for the other three men to join him.

"She said there was a large camp of survivors up near the quarry," the Governor started. "I think we should find a way to convince them to come to Woodbury. Their manpower and the guns she mentioned would certainly make things more comfortable for everyone. We just need to find where those guns are stashed now."

The men continued to plot through the rest of the night. Katie slept soundly right through it all.


End file.
